Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Just for shits and giggles, we'll assume for the moment that Rep. John Tilley is just incompetent, rather than deliberately trying to fool the public with a bill that would do nothing to protect Kentucky landowners and Bluegrass industries from the lethal harm of toxic spills from the pipeline.

A Western Kentucky lawmaker pre-filed a bill Monday to
clarify the use of eminent domain in cases such as the Bluegrass
Pipeline, but an environmental lawyer expressed reservations about the
proposed legislation in a letter to its sponsor.

The Bluegrass
Pipeline would ship natural gas liquids from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West
Virginia to Texas and Louisiana. The planned route in Kentucky includes
13 counties, from Bracken in the northeast to an existing connection in
Breckinridge.

Affected landowners have wondered whether eminent
domain, the power to take private property for a public use, applies.
This month, State Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Len Peters
told an interim legislative committee that his staff attorneys think the
companies proposing to build the Bluegrass Pipeline cannot invoke
eminent domain to gain easements.

State Rep. John Tilley,
D-Hopkinsville, said in a statement his bill specifies that any proposed
oil and gas pipelines are available for "public use as a common
carrier" for similar products, which is a more stringent guideline when
compared to the current law that requires these pipelines only be of a
"public service" when it comes to eminent domain.

Under Tilley's
bill, the Kentucky Public Service Commission would play a "gatekeeper"
role if those constructing pipelines cannot reach agreement with private
landowners.

That would be the same PSC that consistently rolls over for every greedy private utility in the Commonwealth. No thanks, Tilley.

But in a letter to Tilley posted Monday on the website of the
Kentucky Resources Council, environmental lawyer Tom FitzGerald noted
three problems with the bill as proposed.

First, FitzGerald wrote:
"The Public Service Commission jurisdiction extends to regulated public
utilities, and these interstate pipelines are not regulated utilities.
The commission is being asked to grant or withhold the power of
condemnation, which is a legislative and constitutional function and
should not be delegated to the executive branch."

Second, he
wrote: "The criteria and process for PSC review are much less robust
than would be accorded to a natural gas pipeline by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, and do not appear to require a full
quasi-adjudicative hearing as would be provided in a Certificate of Need
and Public Convenience case, including the right of formal
intervention, cross-examination of witnesses, and discovery."

Third, "the review criteria are unrelated to the decision to allow or disallow condemnation powers," FitzGerald wrote.

SNIP

"The
bill in effect 'trades' some level of review (but no authority to
prevent the project even if it isn't found to be in the public interest)
for a broad grant of condemnation powers to interstate pipelines
carrying natural gas liquids, that they currently do not have under
state law." FitzGerald wrote. "I don't believe that the extension of
condemnation powers to non-utility, private companies, whether they are
common carriers or not, is in the best interests of Kentucky landowners."

Eminent domain and pipeline regulation are complex issues in which special interests like the Bluegrass Pipeline companies can easily hide loopholes and exceptions that give them free rein to steal land for a pipeline that can poison the entire region.

Only a flat ban on the project from the legislature and governor will protect the Commonwealth.

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About Me

"Blue" in Blue in the Bluegrass refers to my politics, not my state of mind, although being progressive-democratic in Kentucky is not for the faint of heart.
The Bluegrass Region of Kentucky is Central Kentucky, the area around Lexington. It's also sometimes known as the Golden Triangle, the region formed by Louisville in the west, Cincinnati in the north and Lexington in the east-south corner. This is the most economically advanced, politically progressive and aesthically beautiful area of the state. Also the most overpopulated by annoying yuppies and the most endangered by urban sprawl.
A Yellow Dog Democrat is one who will vote for even a yellow dog if it is running as a Democrat. I can't claim to be quite that fanatically partisan, especially since quite a few candidates who run as Democrats in Kentucky are more Republican than a lot of Republicans I can name.
But I do love the story Kentucky House leader Rocky Adkins never tires of telling about the old-timer in Eastern Kentucky who was once accused of being willing to vote for Satan if Satan ran as a Democrat. Spat back the old-timer:
"Not in a primary, I wouldn't!"
Amen.